Retroplay

Do you mind re-zoning the disks Denis ?

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RIP mom (1953-2008)

dlfrsilver

instead of zoning the disks, i will upload the disk 2 of Maelstrom, if Phil agrees to check it in order to help me to generate extended ADF (and find what's the problem with the disk format).

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Denis

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Galahad/FLT

I doubt an extended ADF could carry the hidden information that is required (if that is indeed the protection), it would simply be a case of hacking the ingame floppy loader to ignore the stuff its checking for.

It could well be that the floppy loader uses stuff hidden in the gaps as a disk id check.

Best thing to do is image Disk 1 as an ADF, and then copy all the disk images created by the hard drive install into a zip and zone it and i'll take a look.

Obviously, loading from hard drive, it can't check hidden gap stuff and doesn't need to, so stick it in the zone and i'll take a look.

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Former member of: LSD, Scoopex, Razor 1911, Dual Crew Shining, Rednex, Fairlight.

www.southwestscrap.co.uk

dlfrsilver

What i can say is that the Dat files are using 1) A compression system 2) are maybe encrypted. Disk 1 and Disk 2 in MFM format uploaded.

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Denis

Retroplay

Thanks, but unfortunately I seem to have misplaced disk 3-4-5-6.

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RIP mom (1953-2008)

Don_Adan

This game uses hidden (disk ID) data format (similar to 500cc MotoManager game), you can't create extended ADF file from PowerCopy, due PowerCopy is not good enough. Perhaps most warpers also failed on this game. Simple you must wait on IPF version.

dlfrsilver

Oh ok !!! In the same time, it's a readysoft game :P, meaning it uses a sneaky format.

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Denis

brolly

If that proves to be the case, would you be able to upload an hdf with the pre-installed game to the zone? At least we could enjoy it meanwhile

clenched

I used the procedure outlined by a poster in the similar thread section at the bottom to install the game. It goes like this:

1 - install disk 1 onto hard drive. Cancel install when disk 2 is requested.
2 - insert disks 2-6 in df0:. Type transdisk > mael/mael2.dat increasing by 1 each disk.

No claims are made other than the game will load. Also, a question will pop up asking to name a planet at some co-ordinates. This will have to be dealt with. Maybe this will do until the Captain gets his SPS disks.

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dlfrsilver

i will upload then an HDF or an lha archive of the game preinstalled.

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Denis

lesta_smsc

Wait on IPF version? But someone will have to create it, and question would be how they do...? Strange how disks can't be dumped 'as is' due to protection but its on magenetic media that can in essence be replicated!

dlfrsilver

yes, the disks seems to be protected beyond the standard MFM tracks. If it gets whdload installed, i think the guy will met quite problems (game is coded in C :P)

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Denis

Don_Adan

You can wait on the cracked version too, if I remember right this game has manual protection too.
This game can't be dumped by PowerCopy and perhaps most of Amiga disk warpers, but perhaps can be dumped by MokWarp.

dlfrsilver

what did you found Don in the disk format ? GAP informations, can you tell a bit more ?

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Denis

Don_Adan

Easy enough, you can resource Maelstrom HD install and try to undestand how works disk access. I don't like C especially, but this game used similar format to 500cc MotoManager, much exactly ExtComm (if I remember right name) bit is set. Perhaps for every disk image extra 3 bytes are hidden/used. First disk ID looks as $01,ML, second $02,ML etc. You can add disks ID at 901116 disk offset and change some C code.

mr.vince

Just the same way they can't be copied. We inspect dumps with The Analyser (CTA) which then generates IPF files.

I will need to speak to IFW to look into this, but he's currently very busy with getting C64 (G64) support added so this might take a few days.

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Galahad/FLT

I'd be surprised if the disk format was much different from the likes of the Graftgold format or has hidden info in the gap like the protection track for the Anco games.

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Former member of: LSD, Scoopex, Razor 1911, Dual Crew Shining, Rednex, Fairlight.

www.southwestscrap.co.uk

mr.vince

No, you seem to be right. At least from what I can see it's hidden header data. The bad news is that track 7.1 of disk 2 and 33.0 or 33.1 of disk 3 don't resolve. It's either additional protection or it's a bad track that might need redumping. The density on all disks looks like hell. Much jitter. Maybe cheap replication.

Denis... Can you redump these and also upload the stream files please?

Command line would be:

DTC -f<filename> -i0 -i2 -i5

Thanks...

Don_Adan

If Denis version failed, you can try to use data from german version, for me disks 3-6 are identical for both game versions. Every (512 bytes) block of disks 2-6 has extra ID, anyway I have cracked version which works OK from disks too, but I must check it closer.

mr.vince

Whatever version, I'd need it dumped properly.